Cuban and Mexican prove a wining combination at this lively little Nolita café. The ambience starts with bright blue exterior and extends indoors with colorful tiles and a stainless steel counter, resulting in a kind of cross-cultural diner effect.

Andrew Carmellini (also behind Tribeca’s buzzed-about Locanda Verde) hits all the right notes at this platonic ideal of the American bistro: oysters, fried chicken with honey and butter–soaked biscuits, a towering sandwich of fried soft-shell crab and kaffir-curry sauce.

Step beneath Balthazar's red awnings and into the high-ceiling dining room to be welcomed by striking pillars, black on the bottom and textured yellow on the top, with illuminated stained-glass panels in the middle.

Situated on the border of SoHo and Little Italy, Despana is a café and gourmet food boutique specializing in Spanish cuisine. The black shelves are packed with cookbooks and the finest olive oils, vinegars and preserves from Spain.

Woks and fryers have no place in the open kitchen that dominates this tiny café, where the emphasis is on grilled and steamed pan-Asian dishes flavored with bold sauces, such as garlic lime chili and curry peanut.